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Aruba Airwave vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (12th), Network Automation (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 6.6%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 26.9%, down from 29.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Prashant-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution has multi-vendor support, and it can be used for network management
Aruba Airwave is an on-prem solution, so you have to manage it with your servers to be deployed. You can also deploy it on the cloud if you have your own private cloud. All the configuration guides and the different types of designs you need are available from Aruba Airwave's portal. I would recommend Aruba Airwave to other users. Overall, I rate Aruba Airwave ten out of ten.
AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features
The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"This solution gives you a lot of reporting capabilities, and it has a very good interface."
"The solution is not overly expensive."
"The Clarity feature makes it easy to use and understand what is going on with your network in a nice dashboard.​"
"The technical support services are good."
"The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization."
"AirWave definitely helps us troubleshoot and get to the root cause of the issues. It gives you an excellent indication of what's going on within your network at different locations. You can get to the area, take a look at the AirWave analysis, and make informed decisions."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its dashboard and simplicity."
"All the technical support goes through our contractor. It is a local support, and it is perfect."
"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."
"What I found valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the Software-Defined Access Network, so the entire LAN network can be centralized and managed from a single dashboard. Cisco DNA Center is suitable for centralized management and lets you deploy switches in a centralized fashion. You can also do multiple switch port configurations simultaneously and segregate your traffic into multiple fabrics. Another valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is enhanced security through Scalable Group Tags. Cisco DNA Center can be integrated with your Cisco ISE to enhance the port securities, and this paves the way for Software-Defined Networking in the LAN segment, which is the main advantage of Cisco DNA Center. I also like that you can use Cisco DNA Center for data assurance or correlation. The solution shows your network and client health parameters, which I find convenient for troubleshooting."
"The solution helps in user microsegmentation."
"Has a good processing feature with a high level of accuracy."
"The monitoring is very valuable to me."
"The monitoring features are very useful for network engineers."
"Automation helps configure devices without manual intervention, enabling zero-touch provisioning."
"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."
 

Cons

"Cost is always a big issue for partners."
"Pricing for Aruba Airwave could be cheaper, which is an area for improvement in the solution."
"I would try to integrate more products from different vendors in future releases. Because that's really good features that Aruba Airway has, but it's so limited."
"We're looking for more device compatibility. Like compatibility with third-party devices."
"We sometimes have problems with troubleshooting between the GUI and the CLI manipulation."
"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"When upgrading hardware, there were technical issues with network interfaces and Red Hat, which required escalation to developers."
"They should make it cheaper. By doing that, they can replace Cisco, which is also very expensive. If it is equivalent to Cisco in the features, with a reduced price, they can sell it more than Cisco."
"As a user, it would be good if I could plug in controllers, suites, and devices from other vendors to Cisco DNA Center."
"The cost is very high."
"It seems to be a little bit more centered toward wireless than wired. You've got more options you can do wirelessly than you can with the wired switches, but it works for what we need it to do. We would like to see a little bit more about the traffic, and we're looking at what's out there to see about that. We are looking at something that might give us a bit more insight into the actual traffic. If they had the full functionality on the wired side, as they do on the wireless side in terms of being able to view traffic and everything, it would be good."
"The solution's setup process needs enhancement."
"What I want to see in Cisco DNA Center in the future is more support for other platforms so that you can manage third-party products, such as Fortinet."
"The tool's IoT integration should be better."
"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."
"The solution can be quite pricey."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (PoC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Aruba Airwave's licensing cost is not that expensive."
"The cost is perfect because the devices have a lifetime warranty, and the licensing is good as well."
"This product is not expensive."
"The tool is expensive. If one is bad or expensive, and ten is very good or cheap, I rate the product's price as a six."
"The licensing is on an yearly basis."
"Licensing and pricing are extremely straightforward."
"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."
"The partnership price is notably high, but it ultimately depends on the chosen business model."
"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."
"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."
"The solution is expensive."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Airwave?
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls. It's somewhat annoying since other Wi-Fi design software we use is easier for drawing walls and inc...
What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
The system is working fine for me currently.
 

Also Known As

No data available
DNA Center
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco DNA Center and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.